Ginger's Blog

Tetris is celebrating its 31th birthday!

Hey guys,

Today is June 6th and the 80’s popular video game is celebrating 31 years since it was first released.
Designed and programmed by artificial intelligence researcher, Alexey Pajitnov, ‘Tetris’ is a combination of the words “tetra“ (Greek word meaning “four”) and “tennis“(which was actually Pajitnov’s favorite sport).

The game requires that players arrange, rotate, move and drop, puzzle pieces in real time while they fall from the top of the playing field into the rectangular Matrix at increasing speeds. The game features 7 distinctive geometric pieces, each made up of four squares (‘tetra’).

The game quickly became a global sensation, and was played on more than 50 gaming platforms in over 185 countries. So many of us grew up playing this timeless game in arcades, Game Boys and smartphones the world over.

Did you know that Tetris has been included in more than 30 scientific studies over the years? Studies found that playing the game helped the brain to operate more efficiently. In 2009, a formal study found that by playing the game for just 30 minutes a day, the subjects actually thickened their gray matter. This finding lead to the conclusion that the game is responsible for physical-cognitive development that could also improve things like memory capacity. Furthermore, a different study suggested that the game can help treat patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as the game had a “protective effect” on the patients.

Another brain effect of playing the game, is the Tetris effect (or ‘Tetris Syndrome”); people who play the game for a prolonged amount of time, begin to pattern their thoughts, mental images and dreams in relation to the game. They actually think about ways different shapes can fit together in the real world, such as buildings, boxes on shelves and may even experience hallucinations of falling pieces.

Although Tetris is not available on Ginger Keyboard for Android, you can find many other old school timeless games to maximize time while messaging.
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